Convert Android & iOS string files to any supported file type, and vice versa.
- About the Project
- Getting Started
- Usage
- Notes
- Troubleshooting
- Roadmap
- Contributing
- License
- Authors
- Acknowledgments
- Support
I have tried to do the whole process of converting a strings resource file into a spreadsheet in Google Sheets by hand, and although you can do it with the Data > Split text to columns option, it is a waste of time to generate the spreadsheet manually. Also, you are limited to spreadsheet files only. For this reason, I decided to create a time-efficient solution that consists of running a Python script to do this with any file type.
In addition to being able to run this script on its own, it can also be installed as a package via PyPI (more information on how to install it here).
- Android strings format (
*.xml) - CSV
- Google Sheets support
- HTML
- iOS strings format (
*.strings) - JSON
- MD
- ODS
- XLSX
- YAML
ASCII directory structure
/
│ .gitignore
│ .pre-commit-config.yaml
│ LICENSE
│ poetry.lock
│ pyproject.toml
│ README.md
│ requirements.txt
│ requirements-dev.txt
│
├───.github
│ │ CONTRIBUTING.md
│ │ dependabot.yml
│ │
│ ├───ISSUE_TEMPLATE
│ │ bug_report_template.md
│ │ feature_request_template.md
│ │
│ ├───PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE
│ │ pull_request_template.md
│ │
│ └───workflows
│ build.yaml
│ publish.yaml
│
├───docs
│ icon.png
│
├───src
│ └───mobile_strings_converter
│ │ console_style.py
│ │ converter.py
│ │ __init__.py
│ │ __main__.py
│ │
│ └───assets
│ └───fonts
│ Aakar.ttf
│ AnekTelugu-VariableFont_wdth,wght.ttf
│ DejaVuSansCondensed.ttf
│ Eunjin.ttf
│ fireflysung.ttf
│ gargi.ttf
│ Gurvetica_a8_Heavy.ttf
│ Latha.ttf
│ Waree.ttf
│
└───tests
│ base_tests.py
│ test_android.py
│ test_csv.py
│ test_get_strings.py
│ test_html.py
│ test_ios.py
│ test_json.py
│ test_md.py
│ test_ods.py
│ test_pdf.py
│ test_xlsx.py
│ test_yaml.py
│
└───files
├───input
│ Localizable.strings
│ strings.xml
│
├───template-with-comments
│ Localizable.strings
│ strings.csv
│ strings.html
│ strings.json
│ strings.md
│ strings.ods
│ strings.pdf
│ strings.xlsx
│ strings.xml
│ strings.yaml
│
└───template-without-comments
Localizable.strings
strings.csv
strings.html
strings.json
strings.md
strings.ods
strings.pdf
strings.xlsx
strings.xml
strings.yaml
- openpyxl to generate ODS and XLSX files.
- gspread to generate spreadsheets in Google Sheets.
- protobuf is used by
google.oauth2.credentialsto authenticate to the user's Google account in order to create the spreadsheet in Google Sheets. - PyYAML to generate YAML files.
- arabic-reshaper and python-bidi to add arabic characters support for PDF files.
- fpdf2 to generate PDF files.
- lingua-language-detector to recognize the value language when writing a PDF in order to know what font to use.
-
Download the
.zipfile from the latest release. -
(Optional but recommended) Create a Python virtual environment in the project root. If you're using
virtualenv, you would runvirtualenv venv. -
(Optional but recommended) Activate the virtual environment:
# on Windows . venv/Scripts/activate # if you get the error `FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnauthorizedAccess`, run this: Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process # and then . venv/Scripts/activate # on macOS and Linux source venv/Scripts/activate
-
Open the command line and run
pip install -r path/to/requirements.txtto install the required packages to run the script.
Install the PyPI package by running pip install mobile-strings-converter.
To convert one file to another file:
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -f *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE]
To include the comments of the .xml/.strings input file in the output file, add the -p (also --print-comments) flag. Note that it will be ignored for other input file types.
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -f *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -p
To convert multiple files at once and save them to the specified directory passed in the -d flag, use the-t flag followed by the desired file type extension (e.g., .json). Note that the program will create the directory if it doesn't exist.
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -d [DIR_PATH] -t [TARGET_TYPE]
To convert supported files in a directory and its subdirectories and save them to a directory:
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py [INPUT_DIR_PATH] -d [OUTPUT_DIR_PATH] -t [TARGET_TYPE]
To convert supported files in multiple directories and their subdirectories and save them to a directory:
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py [INPUT_DIR_PATH_1] [INPUT_DIR_PATH_2] [INPUT_DIR_PATH_3] -d [OUTPUT_DIR_PATH] -t [TARGET_TYPE]
For multiple file inputs and directories, the name of the files will be the same as the input file. For example, if there is a file named spanish.xml in a directory, the output file name will be spanish.[TARGET_TYPE]
See the Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets section to create a spreadsheet in your Google account.
| FLAG | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
-h or --help |
Displays help text for the program. |
-f or --output-filepath |
Path to save the converted file. Only works if only one input file is provided. The file extension can be chosen from the list of supported file types. |
-d or --output-dir |
Directory where the converted files will be saved. Compatible with single and multiple input files as well as directories. The specified directory will be created if it does not already exist. |
-t or --target-type |
Target file type to convert the files (e.g., .pdf, .json). Required if multiple file paths or the --output-dir is specified. |
-g or --google-sheets |
If provided, a Google spreadsheet will be created in your Google account. You must pass the service_account.json with the -c flag. |
-c or --credentials |
service_account.json filepath. Mandatory if you want to generate a spreadsheet in your Google account. You can learn how to generate it in the Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets section. |
-p or --print-comments |
If provided, the commented strings will be printed in the output file. Only valid for input files of type .xml or .strings. Otherwise it is ignored. |
After following the steps in the Getting Started section, import the package and the wrapper function(s) you want to use:
# Using the `get_strings` function
from mobile_strings_converter import get_strings
get_strings(
input_filepath=Path("strings.xml"),
with_comments=True
)Before going further into running the commands to do this, note that you need to generate a service_account.json file. Follow these steps to get one:
- Go to the Google Cloud Console.
- Create a new project or select an existing project.
- Go to the APIs & Services page, click on Dashboard and then click on Enable APIs and Services.
- Search for Google Sheets API and enable it.
- Go to the Credentials page, click on Create credentials, and then choose Service account.
- Give your service account a name and select a role. For this purpose, you can select Project -> Editor.
- Click on the Create key button, select the JSON format and download the
service_account.jsonfile. - Share your Google Sheets file with the email address that is specified in the client_email field in the
service_account.jsonfile.
Alternatively, you can create an .xlsx file and open it in Google Sheets if you do not want to go through the hassle of generating the service_account.json file.
Once you have the service_account.json file, you can create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets by running the following command:
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -g -c path/to/service_account.json
If you want to generate an output file along with the spreadsheet, run this:
python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -g -c path/to/service_account.json -o *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE]
The name of the sheet will be the same as the name of the input file.
from mobile_strings_converter import to_google_sheets
to_google_sheets(
input_filepath=Path("path/to/strings-file"),
sheet_name="MyProject strings",
credentials_filepath=Path("path/to/service_account.json"),
with_comments=True,
)- Hindi
- Marathu
- Oriya
- Tibetan
- Gujarati
- Telugu
- Tamil
- Punjabi
- Bengali (not possible to print correctly using fpdf2)
- Dhivehi (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Kannada (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Khmer (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Lao (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Malayalam (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Meiteilon (manipuri) (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Myanmar burmese (not possible to print correctly using fpdf2)
- Odia (Oriya) (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Sinhala (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
- Tigrinya (not recognized by lingua-language-detector)
You may encounter this error on iOS when using a generated .strings file:
validation failed: Couldn't parse property list because the input data was in an invalid format
This is because the input file has double quotes in some NAME or VALUE. To identify the line with the error, you have to do the following on macOS:
cdinto your project root.cd [LANGUAGE_CODE].lproj(e.g.,cd es.lproj)plutil -lint Localizable.strings
When you run step 3, you will either get an error telling you what is wrong with your file, or you will be told that the file is correct.
✅ Success output example:
╰─➤ plutil -lint Localizable.strings
Localizable.strings: OK
❌ Error output example:
╰─➤ plutil -lint Localizable.strings
2024-06-05 11:04:08.614 plutil[86874:16115488] CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary on line 293. Parsing will be abandoned. Break on _CFPropertyListMissingSemicolon to debug.
Localizable.strings: Unexpected character " at line 1
Note
The last line of the plutil output on error will always be Unexpected character at line 1. However, the real error is in the line above, where it says that the error is on line 293 due to a missing semicolon.
- Add support for converting a file (not
.xmlor.strings) into a strings resource file (.xmlor.strings). - Add support for multiple files input.
- Add support for accepting the path to a directory as input.
- Add support for accepting the path to a directory as output.
- Make brew (macOS) formula.
- Make a web version.
You can propose a new feature creating an issue.
Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated. Please, read the CONTRIBUTING.md file, where you can find more detailed information about how to contribute to the project.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.
- HenestrosaDev [email protected] (José Carlos López Henestrosa)
See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.
I have made use of the following resources to make this project:
Would you like to support the project? That's very kind of you! You can go to my Ko-Fi profile by clicking on the button down below.
